Chelsea 4-0 Tottenham: Mourinho's relentless march towards the title continues as Spurs are shattered at the Bridge

Chelsea v Tottenham

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When Jan Vertonghen gifted Chelsea their opening goal, the groans from Tottenham’s dugout would have been echoed in north London and the North-West.

There is less hope for Arsenal, Liverpool and even Manchester City to be champions. Chelsea lead the table by seven points and five of their next six opponents lie in the bottom half of the table.

‘Little Horse’ Mourinho can try to dampen expectations all he likes, but nobody is fooled. Chelsea are unbeaten in the League in 2014 and, as they showed on Saturday, once in front they are utterly ruthless.

For 56 minutes, the game plan set out by Tim Sherwood and Spurs to stifle Chelsea, with Kyle Walker surprisingly used as a winger and Aaron Lennon at No 10, had worked.

On target: Eden Hazard celebrates after putting Chelsea two goals ahead from the penalty spot

Then, came Vertonghen’s double folly.
First, the Belgian slipped as he tried to turn inside to stop Andre
Schurrle closing him down. Then, in a desperate attempt to retrieve the
situation, he stuck out a leg and succeeded only in playing the perfect
pass for Samuel Eto’o.

The
Cameroon striker, drafted into in the starting line-up minutes before
kick-off when Fernando Torres injured his groin in the warm-up, finished
easily.

His ‘old man’
celebration, poking fun at Mourinho’s recent comments questioning his
official age of 32, lifted the atmosphere and transformed a close game
into a Chelsea romp.

Spurs
manager Sherwood, who refused to bite at Gary Lineker’s suggestion that
he’d named a ‘pick ’n’ mix line-up’, was peeved at referee Michael
Oliver for giving a spot-kick after a tangle between Eto’o and Younes
Kaboul.

But he saved most of
his anger for his own players and their meek surrender after playing so
well for an hour. ‘We have capitulated too often and again today,’ he
said.

‘It is disappointing
to see: 2-0 down to Chelsea you are not going to win the game, but you
expect to see a little bit more gut and a little bit of
feather-rustling.

I don’t want to be the only one who shouts at them
(the players). I think they need to dig each other out. I am gutted, not
about the result but on the capitulation the team have shown this
season.’

Opposite emotions: Tim Sherwood shakes the hand of Jose Mourinho after the final whistle

Taking advantage: Demba Ba scored Chelsea's third and fourth goals of the evening

Embarrassing: Eden Hazard rounded Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris early in the game but couldn't finish

Keep your composure! He had an open goal to aim at with no defenders in sight

Wasted opportunity: His shot went wide of the goal to the dismay of the home fans

Of Tottenham’s
top-four hopes now, he replied: ‘Slim.’ He added: ‘It all went Pete Tong
(wrong) after the first goal. I appreciate referees have a tough job
and have to make a tough call but it could well have gone against us. I
think it is a soft decision because I didn’t think it was a penalty.’

Interestingly,
Sherwood believes City can still pip Chelsea and deny Mourinho a third
Premier League title because of their extra firepower.

Less
plausible was Mourinho’s assertion that he would rather be in City’s
position — nine points behind Chelsea but with three games in hand and a
superior goal difference.

‘If they win all their matches, they are champions. We can’t say the same so I would prefer to be them,’ he said.

After
a goalless first half, Mourinho the master tactician did it again,
hauling off Frank Lampard, who had been booked, and introducing Oscar,
who narrowed the gaps between defence and attack.

The
manager said: ‘We can say the first goal was a mistake but the way
Eto’o read it was fantastic. After that, it was easy to pass, easy to
control, easy for me to be calm.’

Until
Vertonghen’s blunder, Stamford Bridge was getting edgy as the fans
feared a repeat of the 0-0 draw against West Ham in January, although on
this occasion Spurs could not be accused of ‘19th-century tactics’ with
Sandro and Kaboul forcing Petr Cech into good saves.

Tricky decision: Samuel Eto'o rounded keeper Lloris but when he went down no foul was given

Down: The Chelsea striker was left sprawling and required several minutes of treatment

Argument: The pair didn't quite see eye to eye on the incident afterwards

Big men: Emmanuel Adebayor and John Terry were up against each at Stamford Bridge